The Mt. Vernon Rams Gridiron Club recently recognized their 2016 Scholarship Winners. The students must be 4 year football players and keep a 3.5 GPA. Congratulations for all of the hard work both on and off the field!!!

Coach Shaner and his staff recently held a QB Camp at the High School. This is a picture of the younger athletes who attended the camp. Future Mt. Vernon Rams Quarter Backs? Coach Shaner has high hopes for all of them!!!

As winter sports begin to wind down and spring sports get started, it becomes very important for all of our football athletes to be involved in some activity.

Whether it be baseball, track, or after school football workouts, those who are interested in playing football in the fall must be involved in physical activity in the spring and throughout the summer in order to increase physical strength and conditioning.

One of the biggest barriers to having success with our football program is to get our players to understand the importance of getting bigger, faster, and stronger throughout the off-season. Successful football programs in our conference (and throughout the state) run year-round strength and conditioning programs that the athletes commit to in order to become better players. We cannot compete with these programs if we do not make a commitment to improving our strength, speed, and agility in the off-season through participating in other sports, Strength and Conditioning PE, and workouts after school.

If we are going to get ourselves back to being a consistent playoff team, we must commit ourselves to these workouts and put in the time and effort required to be successful!

"In order to achieve greatly, you have to sacrifice greatly. Nobody ever said it would be easy.”

As we demand more of athletes in the weight room in order to become bigger, faster and stronger, we must also give them the basic knowledge that they need in order to make the muscle mass gains that they work so hard to attain. The following article is from Susan Kleiner, RD, Ph. D. She has authored many books on nutrition, is the owner of High Performance Nutrition, and has been a consultant to the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Supersonics.

Consume More Protein- Full of amino acids, protein is crucial to helping repair muscle tissue that is temporarily damaged as a result of a hard workout. With the help of these amino acids, torn muscle fibers get bigger and stronger through a process called hypertrophy. To gain muscle you need to consume one gram of protein per pound of body weight every day. Examples of high-protein foods include: 3 1/2 oz. pork or light meat chicken (29g), 3 oz. Atlantic salmon (19g), 3 1/2 oz. lean ground beef (24g), 1C pinto beans (14g), 8 oz. fat free milk (8g), common protein shake/bar (25g).

Eat Carbs- Carbs actually have a secondary muscle-building effect, because they spare protein that might be used as fuel. Try eating whole-grain breads, pastas and couscous. Shredded wheat cereal and starchy vegetables- like yams- are also good sources.

Fuel up before and after workouts- It takes about 2,500 calories to add a pound of muscle, so you need to consume an additional five grams of protein each day for every five pounds of muscle you want to gain. To increase your calorie and protein intake, eat a 200-300 calorie snack 30-90 minutes before your workout. A cup of yogurt, a banana or a lean turkey on a slice of whole wheat bread are snacks that will fuel you for your training workout. Post-exercise, opt for meal replacement shakes. These combine carbohydrates with protein, which is especially important after you work out to slow the protein breakdown process and boost protein manufacturing.

Don’t go overboard on calories or protein- As you attempt to gain muscle, you’ll likely add a little bit of body fat. However, make sure you start by adding only up to 400 calories to your intake per day. If you don’t see any gains, incrementally add 50-100 calories until you do. This will reduce the amount of fat you gain. Remember, when you increase protein intake you must hydrate properly. Drink twice the amount of fluids (water) you would normally.